makes Kristen a dull girl.

I haven't been able to be here much lately, and even when I do make it, I only have a few minutes. Thought I'd better blog an update on the work situation, so here it is.

My GM is still out, and will be out the rest of the month. If you recall, his last day of actual work was Feb. 10th. He apparently has a sinus infection that won't go away and may have to have surgery later this month. The infection is causing vertigo, and amusingly enough, his wife tells us their pre-school age kids are now falling randomly on the floor and pretending to be "Daddy". If you knew my boss, you would understand that he would expect us all to be laughing at this, so go ahead.

However... things at work are not going so well. I can't honestly say that our issues are due to his absence (although I am sure it's not helping). We have a crew morale problem, a staffing issue (short staffed, adds to frustration for guests having to wait when they see empty tables, crew who is overworked, and managers who are to busy dealing with THESE issues and not managing the restaurant) and a "GSS" issue. (GSS is our "Guest Satisfaction Survey") Our GSS scores is how our sucess is measured, and our director is not happy. AT ALL. (BTW, He was *beep* that I still took my vacation, even though he has never told ME- he's told all the other managers- among his other issues with the restaurant)

One of my fellow managers has been deemed acting GM, which is fine for the "task" portion of the position. The downside is he is NOT a motivator, so after being back for a little over a week- I am taking over. The other manager will continue to handle to more business end, and I am taking over motivating the crew and our little management team. No one told me to do it, I was just frustrated that our GM hasn't done it- really ever- and I know the other manager doesn't have the experience to do it himself.

I have been spending alot of time figuring out what is standing in our way to success, and finding solutions. I gathered the others managers together for a mini-meeting where I pumped them up saying, "We can do this! We've met the managers of "X restaurant", and they are no smarter or better than we are!" blah blah blah (LOL).

I told them what I thought was holding us back, asked them what THEY though was holding us back, and found that we all were feeling pretty much the same way. I asked them for ideas on how to fix, and I think we are all FINALLY on board to stopping the run-away train.

So, for the next few weeks, I will be spending alot less time here, and alot of time keeping everyone's spirits up and keeping us focused on our goals. In the 4 days since I've stepped into the team leader role, most of the crew is already feeling the difference and the atmosphere is on the upswing.

Wish me luck!

Kristen

PS-don't you just get the "Here's Johnny" vision of Jack Nicholson when you hear the phrase, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" ?